Desierto Vestido and Fashion Revolution are fighting to mitigate the devastating effects of the fashion industry’s pollution issue, which profoundly harm our environment.

Situation:

The Atacama Desert became a giant landfill for the fashion industry. Tons of clothing being illegally dumped, by the fashion industry, in the middle of the desert turned the area into an emergency for the environment.

Brief:

Come up with an idea to raise awareness about the alarming situation in the Atacama Desert and get people to realize what’s going on in that area, especially the fashion industry.

Provoke stakeholders to encourage some change.

Objectives:

Grab the attention from the fashion industry, one of the most pollutant industries in the world, and the main responsible for the landfill’s extreme situation.

Get people from all over the world to be aware of the problem in the Atacama Desert.

Generate some change of behavior.

Budget: U$100,000

Since the fashion industry continues to turn its back on the illegal clothing landfill problem, we created an event that couldn’t be ignored: the first fashion week in the largest fashion landfill.

We turned the dunes of the Atacama Desert into a runway, producing a fashion show in the actual landfill, where professional models wore outfits created by stylists, out of the discarded clothing.

With this idea, we allowed everyone to look at what the fashion industry refuses to see.

Most importantly, we led the fashion industry to confront this environmental disaster by playing their own game.

Our approach was to use the fashion world’s language of glamour to deliver an important message. Grabbing the curiosity of fashion publications to appeal to our audience: the fashion industry, clothing brands, professionals from the fashion world, designers, stylists, influencers, marketeers, stakeholders and every clothing consumer.

Besides the fashion world and its enthusiasts (our main target), we wanted to go further and pierce the bubble. The objective was to open awareness conversations with fashion, but also with authorities and the population.

Our key message was a provocative teaser: look at what the fashion industry refuses to see. A fashion show in a fashion landfill, in the style of the main fashion weeks that take place in some world-renowed cities.

Through PR, we draw the attention of media outlets and the press, as a way of encouraging different segments of society not to turn a blind eye about the dangers of unrestrained production and consumption of items due to fashion trends.

Our target audience was any people involved in environmental problems, people engaged in the Atacama cause, and various segments of society so that this issue receives the necessary spotlight, inside and outside the fashion segment.

To produce our fashion week, we took everything that’s necessary for a real fashion show into the Atacama Desert: professional models, stylists, fashion designers, photographers, make-up artists. We turned the Atacama dunes into a runway.

Models walked the runway wearing outfits made from the discarded clothing.

The fashion show was broadcasted to the world. A photo shoot became a fashion editorial. Calendars printed on paper made from recycled clothing, featuring the full story of the landfill, were sent to influencers.

On our website, visitors gained critical insight through a round table discussion with industry professionals. Users discovered the true environmental cost of discarded clothing and were given the tools to contact their favorite brands, demanding change.

Just like a normal fashion week event, the Atacama Fashion Week lasted one week. It started on April 8th.

A 550% increase in searches for "Clothes Landfill in Chile" and a 47% increase in searches for "Sustainable Fashion," culminating in the highest peak of searches for "Sustainable Clothing" in the last 12 months, immediately following the event. This heightened interest was accompanied by a 55% engagement rate and over 4,000 actions on the event's website.

People started to put pressure on brands. More than 50,000 emails sent by consumers to fashion brands, inquiring about their involvement and responsibility concerning the landfill.

The Atacama Fashion Week became part of the world’s fashion calendar.

After the event, clothes began being buried by tractors at the landfill, to conceal the issue, which started to gain more attention.